Medical Tourismâ€™s Soaring Popularity

Patients Beyond Borders reports that more than 150,000 Americans traveled abroad for healthcare last year, and that number is projected to double by 2008.

The rising cost of healthcare in America has spawned the emergence of a new type of travel.

Medical tourism is a phenomenon that has generated passengers in recordnumbers, especially those with no health insurance and limited accessto insurance. In fact, Patients Beyond Borders reports that more than150,000 Americans traveled abroad for healthcare last year, and thatnumber is projected to double by 2008.

“Healthcare has become out of reach in this country for many,” explainsWouter Hoeberechts, CEO of WorldMedAssist (http://worldmedassist.com),a medical tourism company that arranges all of the logistics forhealthcare abroad. “Health insurance premiums have gone up 87 percentsince 2000, resulting in more than 46 million Americans that have nohealth insurance. There are even more with deductibles and co-pays thatexceed what they can afford.”

Saving money is one of the main objectives, and it’s estimated thatpatients can save up to 80 percent of the cost of a procedure. Thisfigure takes into account the costs of travel and lodging. Some of themost common procedures people are leaving the country for includeorthopedics, heart surgery, and cosmetic procedures.

Other advantages to travel abroad include virtually no waiting lines,which is a big issue in Canada, and access to procedures that aren’toffered at home or have a very short track record, such as hipresurfacing and disk nucleus replacement.

“We provide a solution for people, enabling them to receive goodhealthcare. We hold the hands of our clients from start to finish,making for a hassle-free experience,” says Hoeberechts. “The best partis there’s no compromise on quality. The hospitals we partner with areinternationally renowned and typically have strategic partnerships withleading U.S. medical institutions, such as Johns Hopkins and HarvardMedical.”

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